This invention relates to an adjustable length ski pole and, more particularly, to an easily removable grip for a ski pole which allows for a limited adjustment of the effective length of the ski pole. The invention provides a quick and easily removable grip which is especially useful in connection with ski poles designed to be quickly converted to an avalanche probe. The invention also provides an easily removable ski pole grip with an integrated hand guard.
In the prior art there are various types of adjustable length ski poles. Most of them utilize a telescoping tube system. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,596,405, 4,456,285, 4,448, 422, 3,722,903, 3,712,652, 3,556,544, and 4,288,102 all utilize two telescopic tubular pole sections. All such ski poles have the disadvantage of having extra weight due to the overlapping of the two tubular sections when the pole is shortened.
The ski pole sold by Goode Ski Technologies and partially described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,866 uses a ski pole grip which provides a limited means for adjusting the effective length of the ski pole. In the Goode pole the grip is slidable relative to the ski pole shaft and is secured to the shaft by the tightening of a bolt or screw. The tightening or loosening of the ski pole grip requires the use of a tool and can not be done by a hand only operation. The need for such a tool is a significant disadvantage especially if the skier needs to remove the grip in an emergency situation or desires to adjust the grip when skiing and does not have the special tool readily available.
Backcountry skiers and ski patrolpeople like to have ski poles that can quickly be converted to an avalanche probe in an emergency. If a skier is caught and buried in an avalanche and is not quickly located, the skier may suffocate. Avalanche probes are used to poke into the snow to locate a buried skier. For many years ski poles which can be connected to each other have been available. U.S. Pat. No 4,288,102 to Ramer illustrates such an avalanche probe. These ski pole/probes have a male connection at the top of one pole shaft and a female connection at the top of the other pole shaft. When converting such poles to an avalanche probe first a basket is removed from one of the ski poles. Next, both of the ski pole grips are removed. The pole with the male end is connected to the pole with the female end. This effectively doubles the length of the pole. The probe is now ready for use. In order for this system to work quickly in an emergency, the ski pole grips must be easily removable. The prior art ski pole/avalanche probes have grips which do not contain fastening means for tightening and loosening the connection of the grip to the ski pole shaft. Some merely provide a fairly loose fitting grip on the end of the shaft. If the grip fits too loosely, it may slip off inadvertently during normal skiing. If the grip fits too snugly it may be difficult to remove in the emergency situation where it must be quickly converted to an avalanche probe.
Many of today's slalom ski racers require hand guards on their ski poles. Today's slalom courses comprise a series of single pole gates which are secured in the snow and which are provided with a hinge which allows the skier to knock down the pole and for the pole to upright itself after the skier passes the gate. The knocking down of these hinged gates is called clearing or blocking and is often done by the skier hitting the gate with a ski pole just below the ski pole grip. The force of the impact can be significant since it is dependant on the speed of the racer. Without a hand guard, on impact the blocked gate frequently runs up the pole and hits the racers hand, hence the need for a hand guard.
Modern ski racing hand guards are removable and are attached by fixing one end of the guard on the surface of the ski pole shaft and, in some instances the other end is attached to the top of the ski pole grip by a screw or bolt extending downward into the center of the shaft. The attachment to the ski pole can not require a hole to be made in the ski pole shaft since such a hole would significantly weaken the pole at that point. The only point where the hand guards can be screwed or bolted to the pole has been on the top of ski pole grip with the screw or bolt extending into the middle of the shaft and hence not requiring any hole to be made in the shaft. A significant problem with modern hand guards is that they are not directly attached to the ski pole shaft. This means that the hand guards tend to rotate relative to the ski pole grip after a hard impact leaving the outside of the hand exposed to the gates to be blocked. To solve this problem many racers tape the end of the handguard to the pole to avoid such annoying rotation during a slalom race.
There has been a recent trend toward using plastic composite materials for ski pole shafts in place of aluminum. The composite materials allow the diameter of the shafts to be significantly reduced. Because of the reduced diameter of the composite shafts, the surface area to which the hand grip fits is also reduced. This presents a problem in that hand grips typically are attached to the shafts by a tight fit and are held onto the shaft primarily by friction. With the reduced surface area of the composite shafts, the forces of friction are reduced. One solution to this problem is to use a set screw or bolt which is tightened once the grip is inserted onto the shaft. Once the set screw is tightened, in order to remove the grip, the set screw must be loosened first, and to do so, one must use some form of a tool. This presents a problem in an emergency avalanche situation where the ski pole needs to be converted to a probe as fast as possible and the tool needed to loosen the grip is not readily available.